Kingfisher finances its operations using a number of funding instruments, including bank facilities and leases.
Kingfisher regularly reviews the level of cash and debt facilities required to fund its activities. This involves preparing a prudent cash flow forecast for the medium term, determining the level of debt facilities required to fund the business, planning for repayment or refinancing of debt, and identifying an appropriate amount of headroom to provide a reserve against unexpected outflows and/or impacts to cash inflows. To retain financial flexibility, the Group aims to maintain strong liquidity headroom (including cash and cash equivalents, and committed debt facilities), which is currently set at a minimum of £800m.
As of 31 July 2024, the Group had £1,952m (FY 23/24: £2,116m) of net debt on its balance sheet including £2,324m (FY 23/24: £2,367m) of total lease liabilities.
The ratio of the Group’s net debt to EBITDA (on a last twelve months’ basis) was 1.5 times as of 31 July 2024 (1.6 times as of 31 January 2024). At this level, the Group has financial flexibility whilst retaining an efficient cost of capital. The Group’s maximum net debt to EBITDA is 2.0 times over the medium term.
